Warren Goes After Big Oil, Mega-Corporations that Make Billions from Pollution

Sen. Elizabeth Warren went after big oil and the fossil fuel industry during her speech at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs Summit earlier this week, calling for regulations to keep the industry from doing more damage to the planet than it already has.

“A lot of people think that regulations bring higher costs,” Sen. Warren said, “but regulation is also about making sure that someone doesn’t get to beat out by the competition because they’re dumping filth in the river or spewing poisons in the air.”

She also pointed out that oil companies like ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, BP, and ConocoPhillips made “combined profits of $90 billion” last year and still “sucked down $5 billion in subsidies from the American people.” Warren called for closing the tax loopholes and ending the subsidies those corporations benefit from, saying that money could better be used in other areas including education, infrastructure, and “scientific research that could lead to energy breakthroughs.”

Watch Sen. Warren’s full speech from the conference. Her remarks begin at the 5:45 mark.